Another Rs 5,000 crore investment plan by Paytm

The online payment app is trying to invest over the span of three years

The country’s largest online payments and mobile wallet company Paytm is going to invest again. The startup will invest Rs 5,000 crore in the business over the next three years. Vijay Shekhar, founder of the company, said they are trying to take on the competition from global tech giants that include Google.

He also believes that the biggest threats for them will themselves, not anyone else. Although the entry of global companies in India is bringing all attention needed for digital and electronic payment market, this can achieve rapid standardization of products, better consumer understanding and more applications.

Sharma said that the company has invested more than Rs 5,000 crore in the business of mobile payment. Paytm has invested the most and will continue to be largest investor in the country when it comes to digital payments. Paytm would also double their investment for payment business in the upcoming next three years.

One97 Communications, owner of Paytm, declared $1.4-billion or (Rs 9,000 crore) in equity-financing round from SoftBank in May. It is also supported by China’s Ant Financial and soon plans to become the largest dealer for the government-backed Unified Payments Interface. PhonePe and Google’s Tez are leading the way.

The Noida-based company launched their UPI services a year after the country’s demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes – which was the reason behind the increase of India’s digital payment sector. With the demonetization, there has been increase of various digital e-payment companies in India that includes launch of payment services of Whatsapp and PayPal in India too.

When it comes to user’s base, Paytm is in the lead with over 200 million registered users, whereas PhonePe’s has 45 millions and Mobikwik’s 65 million. In addition to their UPI services, the company has plus point against their competitors as it has more than 5.5 million merchants.

The company aims to increase its peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions from 100 million to 200 million via their platform per quarter in addition to Unified Payments Interface. One of the perks of Paytm is that instead of using UPI railroads, the consumers can use their own handles.

Experts in the industry say that Paytm has an advantage as banks get their share of revenue for every transaction they make through aggregators, but in case of Paytm, there will be no sharing. Paytm’s banking operation gives it an advantage as compared to non- bank payment companies. The only challenge is to encourage people to start using Paytm and save significant amounts with it.

With upcoming technologies in electronic and digital payments, is Paytm moving on right track?
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The Author

Abhirami Pillai

A 20 year old passionate geek, never misses a chance to read on internet culture, consumer-facing technology & social media.
Abbie loves to write about early-stage startups, disruptive technology and new Apps in the market, besides that she is a diehard cinephile and logophile.